Venezuela announced the restart of the Plan Vuelta a la Patria with two CONVIASA flights from the US (+statement)

Published at: 10/02/2025 02:50 PM

This Monday, the Government of Venezuela announced the restart of the Plan Return to the Homeland with two flights of the state airline CONVIASA from the United States (USA), where Venezuelan migrants who were in the North American country will return.

“In the conversations held between the Government of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela and the Government of the United States of America, in the person of President Trump's special envoy, Ambassador Richard Grenell, Venezuela always made it clear that any transfer of Venezuelans must be done with absolute respect for their dignity and human rights; we therefore formulated the proposal that we would have Venezuelan planes to search for and transfer the migrants who are returning to their homeland today “, says an official statement from the Ministry of People's Power for Communication and Information.

Below is the full text of the document:

The Government of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela informs its people and the world that two planes, belonging to our airline CONVIASA, are currently heading to Venezuelan land, which were sent to the United States of America within the framework of the Plan Back to the Homeland to return to our territory Venezuelan compatriots who were in the United States.

The Vuelta a la Patria plan was designed by the Bolivarian government of Venezuela to repatriate, from different parts of the world, thousands of compatriots who migrated because of economic sanctions and psychological warfare campaigns against our country.

In the conversations held between the Government of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela and the Government of the United States of America, in the person of President Trump's special envoy, Ambassador Richard Grenell, Venezuela always made it clear that any transfer of Venezuelans must be done with absolute respect for their dignity and human rights; we therefore formulated the proposal that we would have Venezuelan planes to search for and transfer the migrants that today they return to their homeland. It is our government's irrevocable position to address the condition of our migrants and their prerogatives enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

The Bolivarian Government also reports that it has been notified by the Government of the United States of America that some of the people who come back are allegedly linked to criminal activities, or would be involved in the criminal actions of the so-called "Aragua Train”. As is public and accepted by all, our institutions fought and defeated this criminal gang in Venezuelan territory.

As shown in irrefutable evidence presented by the Venezuelan justice system, these criminal groups had been recruited and activated by extremist sectors of the opposition to sow anxiety and violence in our country, and they facilitated the flight of the leaders of these groups to other countries, including the United States.

After many efforts, Venezuela is now one of the safest places on our continent and we will keep it that way.

As appropriate, the persons mentioned above will be subject to a rigorous investigation as soon as they touch Venezuelan land and will be subject to the actions provided for in our justice system.

Venezuela confirms what was discussed with special envoy Grenell that there is a false and malicious narrative surrounding the topic of the so-called “Aragua Train”, sown by the media and representatives of the Biden Administration, to penalize all Venezuelan migrants and stigmatize our country. Quite the opposite of that species, most migrants are decent, hardworking people.

The Government of President Nicolás Maduro Moros reiterates its proposal, within the framework of Agenda Zero for a new beginning of relations between the two countries, based on respect and safeguarding our self-determination, to establish mechanisms of direct cooperation in the police and justice spheres to combat organized crime and to the intellectual authors and financiers of the coyote network who have harmed and defrauded thousands of our compatriots by taking them to the United States and other countries charging them large sums of money.

Venezuela ratifies, within the framework of our Bolivarian peace diplomacy, its willingness to maintain direct relations of communication, respect and understanding between the Government of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela and the Government of the United States of America.

Caracas, February 10, 2025

Ministry of People's Power for Communication and Information

Mazo News Team